A Brief Autobiography
Alfred “Fritz” Miller graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics in June 1953 from the University of California at Berkeley. He immediately accepted a career assignment as a project mathematician at the United States Air Force’s premier Flight Test Center (AFFTC) located at Edwards Air Force Base, California. He worked with top flight test aeronautical engineers, premier test pilots and many other technical support personnel for thirty seven years. He had a front row seat and a bird’s eye view of much of the aviation history making accomplished by the “Right Stuff” that took place in the second half of the 20th Century. His story is a very unique insider view of what goes on behind the scenes of flight testing. In the early years, as a mathematician, he was a “trail-blazer” in the application of electronic digital computers for the reduction, computation and analysis of flight test data. He “pioneered” the ultimate modernization of the computer capability at the AFFTC. He not only contributed directly to the many historic successes at the Flight Test Center, but also many NASA “X Aircraft” historic research tests conducted by NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. In addition he managed the Edwards Flight Test Range (EFTR) on and over an extended area that spanned the West Coast to the Great Salt Lake Area located at Hill AFB, Utah. The use of the EFTR Range, under his steady management proved indispensable in supporting the historical X-15 Program, and the Edwards AFB recovery of the highly successful Space Shuttle Program. He is considered to be one of the “Fathers” of the development of the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR), established primarily for extensive long range Cruise Missile Testing and realistic Air Force Combat Training. This is the story of the men and women behind the glory that made the “Right Stuff” possible. It is also the story of how God was present in Alfred “Fritz” Miller’s life every step along the way.
The Father of four girls and four boys resides with his wife of 67 years, Dorothy, in Lancaster, California.
